I've seen Christian and Muslim women praying intensely during labour and been very moved by it. One Muslim couple I witnessed praying together during contractions. It was really beautiful - I had tears in my eyes watching them.

Good article. When I was in labour I felt very close to death (but not necessarily in a bad way, if that makes sense.) I panicked and had an epidural (fear of more pain being the main reason), but this time I am going to try to trust God and my body to do the job. We were made for it after all.

That isn't to say that I definitely won't have pain relief- I just have more faith in my body to do the job this time. Also, not being able to feel myself pushing my baby out meant that I missed out on something special last time.